Chinese whispers point to 2014 MacBook redesign

For those of you holding off on a laptop purchase until this year’s MacBook range is unveiled, here are some interesting nuggets of information: MacRumors reports on a Chinese forum post that suggests a new 12-inch MacBook is in the pipeline and that a revamped MacBook Air series is also on the verge of launching.

The same forum poster has made accurate predictions about Apple hardware in the past, so it would seem he does have some genuine inside contacts at the company. According to the post, Apple is readying a fanless 12-inch MacBook with a new trackpad that does away with mechanical buttons. This ties in with rumors we’ve heard about a 12-inch Retina display MacBook Air.

The Air and Pro lines are already very close in terms of size and style, so perhaps 2014 is the year that the lines merge completely. The Chinese tipster did say that new MacBook Airs were due in the near future, while a MacBook Pro refresh won’t arrive until September, so we’ll have to wait and see just how Apple is going to market and differentiate these laptops.

There was also mention of Apple’s long-awaited iWatch in the post, of course — apparently it’s still at the prototype stage, so an announcement on that front won’t happen for a while. If you’re eager to read up on all of the rumors and speculation we’ve heard so far about Apple’s smartwatch product, head over to our comprehensive round-up page.